Crimes Committed vs Crimes Reported

by Menno Zacharias

The Winnipeg Police Service tracks 10 specific criminal offenses on Crimestat.

During the month of September, 2011,  Crimestat reported that  for those 10 specific crimes,  787 offences were committed, city-wide.

In  September 2011 the Winnipeg Police Service issued 26 News Releases.  In those 26 news releases, however, the Service made reference to only 10 of the 787 offences reported on Crimestat during September.

The table below shows the disparity between offences committed and offences reported on:

Crime Type Offences committed Offences  reported
Commercial Break-In 65 0
Break-In (other) 157 0
Residential Break-In 211 0
Homicide 3 3
Commercial Rrobbery 43 3
Non-Commercial Robbery 111 1
Sexual  Assault 16 1
Shooting 3 3
Auto Theft 109 0
Attempted Auto Theft 69 0
Total 787 10

It is of interest to note that the September 27th release makes reference to an arrest of a suspect  for 6 commercial robberies committed on September 16th and 17th.  Information that this robbery spree was in progress might have been of interest to merchants in the  area on the  dates when it was taking place.

This brings to mind Brian Kelcey’s recent op-ed in the Winnipeg Free Press in which he makes reference to running the City of Winnipeg on “spin”.

I suppose if the Police Service were to provide more information on muggings and sexual assaults it would become evident that the majority of those offences occurred in the downtown and the immediate north end of the city.  That would not be good for the image of the downtown which is being “spun” as safe.  During the month of September,  59 of the 111 muggings  reported city-wide were committed in District 1, which encompasses the downtown area.  The Crimestat map below shows what it looks like when these 59 offences are mapped:

Not a pretty picture and pretty difficult to spin.

When it comes to spin, George Orwell perhaps said it best, “He who controls the present controls the past, he who controls the past controls the future”.

2 comments on “Crimes Committed vs Crimes Reported”

  1. Marty Gold says:
    2011/10/29 at 17:37

    Excellent post, Menno. Your readers may find our Friday podcast about the Biz, the attempts at spin, and the attitude they display towards campus radio hosts who ask important questions:

    http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/10/ckuw-host-calls-out-teflon-downtown-biz.html

    Like

  2. Winnipeg_on_Great_Police_State says:
    2011/10/30 at 20:31

    It should also be noted that since police encrypted the dispatch channels the press has not been able to report crime. So now it appears crime is down in Winnipeg when in reality it is not.

    I have to wonder what the Mayor and Police Chief are thinking encrypting police dispatch, that it will make crime go away? How dishonest is that of these two.

    I hope the Manitoba Police Commission steps in an puts a stop to this garbage. The public needs to be informed about crime in our city in a timely matter.

    Some around the police claim that online scanners and Iphone aps are to blame for the encryption of dispatch. But as the Chief of the York Regional police recently reminded the scanner community. It is illegal under the radio act of Canada to rebroadcast a communication without consent.

    So as far as online scanners why don’t the Winnipeg Police look up the IP of the online scanners and shut them down?

    I have noticed some of the sites that run online scanners are right wing, makes you wonder if someone has not been encouraged to run them to create a need for encryption?

    End rant.

    Like

Comments are closed.